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NCL Finals & Australian Ninja Open 2024

The Ninja Challenge League Finals & Australian Ninja Open weekend is the culmination of a year of ninja competition – bringing together Australia’s best ninjas in the quest for Total Victory against a gruelling three-stage tournament, followed by a spirited team competition.

Competitors who have accepted their invitations and purchased a ticket to the NCL Finals will compete at on Saturday, October 5 and Sunday, October 6, 2024 at Geelong Ninjas in Geelong, Victoria.

TICKETS

Tickets to the NCL Finals 2024 cost $135.00 and include the Finals competitor exclusive 2024 Finals tee in the size indicated in the competitors’ membership profile, as well as entry to the Australian Ninja Open.

Finals tickets are only available to competitors who have qualified at Ninja Challenge events in 2024.

Tickets to the Australian Ninja Open (ANO) only cost $115.00 and include a run on Stage One of the NCL Finals, and entry into the Ninja Draft, depending on their performance on Stage One (more details on ANO eligibility below), but will not be permitted to attempt Stage Two, even if they clear Stage One, and will not be eligible for any Finals prizes. NOTE: THESE TICKETS DO NOT INCLUDE A FINALS T-SHIRT.

ANO-only tickets are open to any 2024 NCL member in the Teens Division or any Adult Division – whether they have qualified or not.

ANO-only tickets will be limited in number. To that end – and for logistical reasons – only Teens Division competitors who cannot qualify for the NCL Adult Finals due to their age will be able to purchase the initial waves of ANO-only tickets. This will be extended to Adults after the conclusion of the qualifiers.

FINALS FORMAT

The Finals will consist of up to three stages of competition over the course of the weekend.

The young adults and masters division will have a longer time limit that the adult divisions on Stages One and Two, and will run before the adult divisions on all stages. However, competitors in the young adults and masters divisions will not be eligible to win Total Victory, Last Ninja Standing, Last Woman Standing or Last Man Standing.

The run order for ALL STAGES in both divisions will be determined by how many points competitors scored at events throughout the year, with the highest-scoring competitors running later in the day.

The course for the Finals stages will be revealed on the morning of the first day of competition at the latest.

Competitors will not be allowed to practice any part of the course unless otherwise specified on the day.

Competitors must complete each stage within the designated time limit (where applicable), beginning with Stage One to progress to the next stage.

If a competitor fails an obstacle on Stage One or Stage Two, they can use the remainder of their time limit to unofficially attempt the remaining obstacles on that stage.

If a competitor falls on Stage Three, they will have three minutes to unofficially attempt the remaining obstacles of Stage Three in that time, if they choose.

If less than 20 competitors in the Adult division clear Stage One, then as many non-finishers as needed to reach 20 competitors will advance to Stage Two for unofficial runs, based on furthest-fastest on Stage One.

If less than 5 competitors in the Young Adult division clear Stage One, then as many YA non-finishers as needed to reach 5 competitors or 50 per cent of the field (whichever is lesser) will advance to Stage Two for unofficial runs, based on furthest-fastest on Stage One.

If less than 5 competitors in the Masters division clear Stage One, then as many Masters non-finishers as needed to reach 5 competitors or 50 per cent of the field (whichever is lesser) will advance to Stage Two for unofficial runs, based on furthest-fastest on Stage One.

If less than 5 competitors in the Adult Division clear Stage Two, then as many non-finishers as needed to reach 5 competitors will advance to Stage Three for unofficial runs, based on furthest-fastest on Stage Two.

If less than 2 competitors in the Young Adult division clear Stage Two, then as many non-finishers as needed to reach 2 competitors will advance to Stage Three for unofficial runs, based on furthest-fastest on Stage Two.

If less than 2 competitors in the Masters division clear Stage Two, then as many non-finishers as needed to reach 2 competitors will advance to Stage Three for unofficial runs, based on furthest-fastest on Stage Two.

In all cases, an unofficial runner on Stage Two will not be able to progress to do an unofficial run on Stage Three – even if they clear the course or are the best performing non-finisher.

FINALS PRIZES

The following cash prizes are on offer at the event:

The top men, women and young adults at the NCL Finals 2024 will also qualify to compete in the World Ninja League World Championships in the United States in mid-2025.

For more information about the World Ninja League, visit https://worldninjaleague.org/.

To start your journey to the Ninja Challenge League Finals in 2024, book into an official NCL Qualifier event on the Schedule page.

If you have any questions about the Ninja Challenge League’s rules or format, contact the Commissioner directly at commissioner@ninjachallengeleague.com.

AUSTRALIAN NINJA OPEN FORMAT

The Australian Ninja Open (ANO) is the Ninja Challenge League’s team competition, which will be held following the conclusion of Stage Three of the NCL Finals.

ANO OVERVIEW

ANO QUALIFYING

To participate in the ANO, competitors must first qualify for the ANO Ninja Draft by taking on Stage One of the NCL Finals.

For NCL Finals competitors, their Stage One result will be used to determine their eligibility. However, for the purposes of ANO eligibility only – Masters and Young Adults will be held to the same time limit as Adult Division competitors.

For example, if the time limit for Stage One was 2 minutes for Adult Division competitors, and 3 minutes for Masters and Young Adults competitors, the result for Masters and Young Adults used to determine whether they qualify for the ANO would be based on how far they got into Stage One in 2 minutes, not the full 3 minutes they have to clear Stage One as part of the Finals.

For ANO-only competitors, they will attempt Stage One before any Finalists and their results will be pooled with the Finalists to determine ANO eligibility.

After Stage One, the top 18 Masters Division competitors will be named as team captains. The top 72 competitors across all divisions (excluding team captains), will be entered into the Ninja Draft.

The total number of competitors across the NCL Finals and Australian Ninja Open will be capped at 150 competitors, which means over half the competitors at the event will be eligible to participate in the ANO.

ANO NINJA DRAFT

The Ninja Draft will take place after the conclusion of Stage One. The draft order will be in a snake draft order, starting the with the captain who performed best on Stage One and going down the line, then reversing the order after each round of picks until each captain has picked four team-mates.

For example, the top Master in Stage One will have the first pick in the first round, the last pick in the second round, the first pick in the third round and the last pick in the final round.

The team captains will have one minute to make each selection. If the captain fails to pick an athlete in that time, they will forfeit their pick until the end of that round of picks.

Seem a bit confusing still? See last year’s Ninja Draft in action.

Commissioner’s note: “Don’t feel bad if you’re picked last – I was the last pick in the Australian Ninja Open Draft in 2021, but it’s better to be picked last than not picked at all!”

INJURY ALTERNATES

After the draft has been completed and all teams have been set, the team captains will pick an injury alternate from the pool of non-ANO competitors.

These competitors are not officially part of the team, but will function as an alternate for that team if a competitor is unable to continue due to a genuine injury.

ANO RELAY FORMAT

All rounds of the ANO will use the Relay Format, which sees four athletes from each team work together to defeat an eight-obstacle course.

As there are five people on the team and only four athletes participating in the relay course, the team captain must decide who rests in each round – but teams cannot have the same four athletes in consecutive seeding rounds.

To do so, the team captain will assign each athlete to a starting spot at the beginning of the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th obstacles.

The athletes will attempt to clear their pair of obstacles in order and tag the next team member. Once an athlete tags the next competitor on their team, they cannot attempt any further obstacles.

If an athlete fails an obstacle, the next athlete in the order will have to make their way to the start of the failed obstacle from their starting platform and attempt to complete those obstacles in addition to their own until they reach the next athlete’s starting position.

If the replacement athlete also fails an obstacle, the next team member in the order attempts the obstacle until all athletes have failed an obstacle or completed the course.

Teams have to think carefully about where they place each athlete – do you put your best athlete at the end so they can bail out the rest of the team or do you put them on the obstacle they are best at regardless of where it sits on the course?

The relay format is about strategy is much as it is about strength and skill.

Sound a bit confusing? Check out last year’s Relay Rounds to see the format in action.

ANO SEEDING ROUND FORMAT

The Seeding Round will see all 18 teams take on the same course.

Based on furthest, fastest, the 18 teams will be split into two pools of nine teams based on their seeding.

POOL A

  • 1
  • 4
  • 5
  • 8
  • 9
  • 11
  • 14
  • 15
  • 18

POOL B

  • 2
  • 3
  • 6
  • 7
  • 10
  • 12
  • 13
  • 16
  • 17

ANO POOL ROUND FORMAT

The Pool Round will be split across the two rigs at Geelong Ninjas, with each pool competing on a different rig. Runs will alternate between each rig, starting with the lowest seed in Pool A, then the lowest seed in Pool B, and so on until the top seed in each pool has competed.

After the courses for each rig have been revealed, the #1 seed from the Seeding Round will be able to pick which rig they want their pool to compete on – adding extra incentive to earning first place in the Seeding Round.

At the conclusion of the Pool Round, the bottom team in each pool is eliminated, and the remaining eight teams in each pool are re-seeded based on their performance in the Pool Round.

ELIMINATION ROUNDS FORMAT

After the Pool Round, the Pools will be split into two eight-team brackets that meet in the middle. Teams will be paired up with another team in an elimination match, with the winner from those two teams progressing to the next stage and the loser being eliminated, following a bracket/tennis draw structure (see below).

In all Elimination Rounds, the top seed in each match-up will get to choose whether they want to run first or second.

There will be a new course for each round.

The Elimination Rounds are as follows:

Not sure how it works yet? See last year’s elimination round in action.

CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND FORMAT

The Championship Round will use the Relay Format, with one modification: the course will be 10 obstacles long, so all team members will be required to participate.

The team with the top seed in their bracket will get to choose whether they want to run first or second after the course is revealed. If both teams have the same seed in their bracket (i.e. both were Team #1 in their bracket), then the tiebreaker goes to the team from Pool A Bracket.

Not quite making sense yet? See last year’s Championship Round in action.

ANO PRIZES

The winning team will receive an awesome prize pack from our major sponsor OZIGRIP.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

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